This morning I’m easing into work by doing some drawing, since I’m getting to do more and more of it for work and want to step up my abilities. I’m not finding “The 30-Day Drawing Challenge” list to be quite right for me, as it’s not especially evocative of things that chime with my imagination, but I’ve started it and I’m just that bloody-minded that I’m going to finish it!
So here are numbers 11, 12, and 13.
Eleven: “A turning point in your life.”
That would have to be auditioning for theatre school. But before you get any images of ‘Rachel’ from “Glee” belting out a Streisand show-stopper for a full auditorium, let me paint this picture instead: An impossibly nervous and gangly 17-year-old singing without accompaniment in a tiny closet of a room tucked away in a far corner of Dalhousie University for a solitary, squat figure hunched in a chair with a slight reek of booze emanating from him.
I sang the Maurice Chevalier song “Louise”, which, now that I look back, seems incredibly hokey and passionless, but I was going on the advice of the vocal coach back home””a quaint little church lady.
My monologues were””oh God””the balcony speech from Romeo and Juliet, because I had something unique to add to that which 300 years of actors had missed. Then there was a modern piece from some non-descript, unheard-of play, which was at least somewhat age-appropriate, if, again, emotionally flat. I’d had coaching on these from a local theatre director, Ron Irving, who later ended up hiring me for a succession of professional jobs, and has contributed a lot to the theatre scene in Charlottetown over the years.
Still, I got in, and that set the stage, if you will, for everything that came after.
Twelve: Most recent accomplishment.
I saw an audiologist at the hospital last week, who tested my hearing again The results were not great, but not that bad, so she gave me a present to use in the meantime: a machine that plays sounds to mask out tinnitus so you can sleep, along with two wee speakers to slip under my pillow.
It does actually help a lot to have something outside my head to pay attention to””both to alleviate the annoyance of the tinnitus, but also because I think too much when I should be resting. The only problem with the speakers, though, is that they slipped around as I moved my pillow (which I hug and adjust and wrestle with in my sleep). It’s like putting a bolo under your head and hoping it doesn’t wind up around your neck.
So I got an idea: Sew a sleeve with little elastics to hold the speakers, a cover for the speakers and wire held shut with velcro, and non-slip placemat material on the back to keep it all in place on the bed.
Like all my sewing projects so far, it’s not the prettiest thing (despite being made from the nice owl fabric Craig gave me for our cotton anniversary), but it worked last night. Plus it’s yet another bit of DIY in my world, which just makes me feel great. I get immense pleasure from interacting day-to-day with things I’ve made.
Thirteen: A comic.
Now, I’m assuming here they mean a comic strip, but, despite having doodled all my life, I’ve never been a comic strip or graphic novel reader. So the first thing that popped into my mind was Roy “Chubby” Brown, a so-called comedian who’s coming to Wick soon.
It saddens me that he still gets bookings and has fans, because he’s an odious personality whose “comedy”, as much as I’ve seen it, is a bin-bag of racism, misogyny, and other bits of toxic waste. His die-hard fans seem to be those who read the red-top tabloids and complain that “It’s PC gone mad” whenever someone pulls them up for delivering hate speech in a joke’s clothing.
So there we are. It’s time to get another coffee and start working on a vector graphic for my client’s blog. It’s a beautiful, sunny morning, which is a nice break from the battering of sea-winds and pelting of rain we’ve been getting. I can’t complain, since most of the people I’m in touch with are buried under snow, but this is still a nice change.
Crossing over the harbour bridge this morning (I’ve driven ’round the roundabout there several times!), I saw two men down on the riverbank, mortoring up the wall. Apparently there was lots of damage and some flooding here while I was away.
Right, I’m talking about the weather. Time to move along. Regards to you.